• Holiday scams are rising. Phishing and smishing attacks are targeting online shoppers.
• Scammers exploit the busy holiday season, using fake delivery messages to steal data.
• Law enforcement also warns of porch pirates.

Law enforcement and security professionals are warning of increased scam activity this holiday season.

Most holiday scams are phishing scams that can be found year-round, though scammers will theme their fraud to fit the season. An example could be a fake social media ad for a holiday product that sends you to a scam website or an email saying that a package you ordered for a Christmas gift is delayed and needs your approval.

"Remember, don't click on anything unknown, even if you just ordered gifts and you're expecting packages to come to your door soon," IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a release. "Double-check before you click."

One of the most popular frauds this holiday season is a "smishing" scam involving text messages from people who claim to be the United States Postal Service, Melanie McGovern, the director of public relations at the Better Business Bureau, told Business Insider. The text message might say a package you ordered is delayed and include a link to a fake website that the scammers use to steal personal information.

"The biggest thing for people to remember is if they have opted into text reminders," McGovern said. "You have to opt in to receive any kind of text message from a retailer. Keeping track of what you ordered and where, how it's being delivered, is really important."

Scammers target the holiday season because it's a time when people are "super busy" buying gifts for loved ones, McGovern said. It can be easy to fall for a phishing scam during this time of the year, McGovern said, because of the commotion around holiday shopping.

"They're panicking, you know," McGovern said. "We're a week from Christmas, and they're like, 'Oh no, my package is being held up. It's something for my child. You're naturally going to go into panic mode."

One method to spot a phishing scam is to look at where the text or email is coming from, McGovern said. The USPS says it only uses "5-digit short codes" to send and receive text messages to and from mobile phones. One example of a fake scam text claiming to be from the USPS reviewed by Business Insider shows a +63 area code, which originates in the Philippines.

"They're phishing," McGovern said. "I got one the other day for my health insurance, and it looked like it was coming from your health insurance, until I looked at the address and realized it."

The most important thing to do if you think you are being scammed is to stop, pause, and look for warning signs, McGovern said. If you feel like something is off, there's a chance that it probably is.

Law enforcement agencies have also reported a rise in "porch pirate" activity, where thieves will steal a package delivered to someone's front porch. North Carolina Attorney General John Stein said in a holiday scam warning that it's important to track packages and make sure that you are home when they are delivered.

You can also set the delivery address to a neighbor's house who is home during the day, send the package to your workplace, or ask the post office to hold your mail and collect the deliveries there, Stein said.

• TikTok Shop is now a more popular online retailer than Shein and Sephora among Americans.
• TikTok Shop first launched in September 2023.
• A new consumer trends report found that 45% of surveyed Americans have bought something on TikTok.

TikTok Shop has surpassed retail giants Shein and Sephora in the online battle for US shoppers.

A 2025 consumer trends report by Coefficient Capital and The New Consumer's Dan Frommer analyzed how Americans' spending habits could affect certain brands. The research included 11 surveys of over 3,000 US consumers. The company conducted its most recent survey this month.

TikTok Shop launched in September 2023, making it a relatively new online retailer compared to its peers. However, the consumer trends report said 80% of surveyed Americans who use TikTok at least once a month are aware of TikTok Shop, signaling the retailer's growing reach.

That reach has helped TikTok overtake retailers like Sephora, Shein, and Qurate in US consumer spending for the third financial quarter, according to the trends report.

Sephora and Shein are two popular online retailers in the United States, especially with younger generations like Gen Alpha. Qurate Retail Group owns and operates six retail brands, including QVC. The company sells items online through its brands.

Sephora helped its parent company, LVMH, achieve record-breaking sales in 2023, reaching $10 billion in revenue across North America. Shein made $2 billion in profits that year. Although Qurate's third-quarter earnings report said revenue decreased by 5%, it generated $152 million in operating income.

A March Financial Times report cited three sources who said TikTok had reached $16 billion in sales in the United States. It's unclear how much the TikTok Shop has made since its 2023 launch, but the company said in its 2024 economic report that the app drove $15 billion in revenue for small businesses in the United States.

The consumer trends report said 45% of surveyed Americans purchased "fashion, clothing, and accessories" from TikTok Shop. Beauty and personal care items came second at 44%. Surveyed TikTok users also indicated purchasing electronics, home goods, food, toys, books, and more from the online shop.

TikTok has led the growth of social media shopping apps in the United States in recent years. TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, likely wants to replicate the success of its sister app in China, Douyin, which drives hundreds of billions in sales annually, often through influencer livestreams.

Despite its rising popularity with content creators and shoppers alike, TikTok faces a potential federal ban in the United States next month.

In April, Congress passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. The law gives ByteDance until January 19 to divest from TikTok or face a ban in the United States. On December 6, a federal appeals court upheld the ban as constitutional.

Lawmakers worry that the Chinese government could compel the app's Chinese ownership to manipulate content for propaganda or leverage the personal data of millions of Americans.

Ahead of the potential ban, TikTok launched a "limited-time offer " promotion this week, allowing users to earn $50 in TikTok Shop credits to recruit a new user. Users can earn up to $350 in shop credits in total.

Representatives for TikTok, Shein, Sephora, and Qurate did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt says human-directed AI-controlled drones are the future of war.
• Schmidt's startup, White Stork, is developing drones for Ukraine to use in its war with Russia.
• AI drones are a growing trend in military innovation, as is tech to counter them.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt says AI drones are the future of warfare but that human operators will need to ensure they don't go haywire.

Schmidt was Google's CEO from 2001 to 2011. He is now the founder of an AI drone startup called White Stork, which has provided Ukraine with drones to use in its war with Russia. At a Stanford lecture in August, Schmidt said that the war in Ukraine had turned him into a "licensed arms dealer." Schmidt said at the Stanford lecture that the startup's goal is to use AI "in complicated, powerful ways."

Schmidt's White Stork and Palmer Luckey's Anduril are at the forefront of developing autonomous drones for the US military.

Schmidt has said he imagines a future where humans are far from the front line of conflicts, operating from afar machines that do the actual fighting. Speaking to PBS on Friday, Schmidt said that using armed men on the battlefield is an "antiquated method of war."

"The correct model, and obviously war is horrific, is to have the people well behind and have the weapons well up front, and have them networked and controlled by AI," Schmidt said. "The future of war is AI, networked drones of many different kinds."

At a tech conference in Saudi Arabia in October, Schmidt called tanks "useless" and said a $5,000 drone could destroy a $5 million American tank.

Schmidt said it's more important that the United States maintains the "human in the loop" rule for AI drones, meaning that a person will have "meaningful human control" of drones on the battlefield.

"What will happen is that the computer will produce the battle plan and the human will authorize it, thereby giving the legitimacy of both authorizing it as a human but also the legitimacy of control and liability if they make a mistake," Schmidt said.

Having a human operator is key to preventing a "Dr. Strangelove situation," Schmidt said, where "you have an automatic weapon which makes the decision on its own."

"That would be terrible," he said.

Scott Sacknoff, president of aerospace and defense investment firm Spade Index, previously told Business Insider that autonomous drones in warfare are "definitely a trend."

"Every 20 years, the defense sector sort of goes through a cycle where here are the new technologies that will have a greater impact on defense and military," he said.

Sacknoff said the military defense business is always looking for a "counter" to the newest technology and that the growth of autonomous drones would likely bring more innovations to stop them.

• Dozens of unidentified aircraft have been spotted over military bases, airports, and cities in the US.
• The Pentagon said Monday that DoD has "no evidence" the drone sightings pose a threat.
• A White House spokesperson said the sightings include a mix of commercial, hobbyist, and law enforcement drones.

US officials said on Monday that the mystery drones flying over US military bases, airports, and cities don't pose a threat.

On Monday, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said that more than 5,000 drone sightings have been reported in recent weeks, but only about 100 required further investigation.

He said the sightings have included a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as some crewed aircraft and stars mistaken for drones.

The House Intelligence Committee was expected to receive a classified briefing on Tuesday over the issue, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

The drones have been seen flying at night over New Jersey and other East Coast states since mid-November, sparking concern and speculation from officials and citizens.

Kirby told reporters that "our assessment at this stage is that the activity is lawful and legal,"

The federal government has sent advanced technology and additional personnel to assist local authorities and state officials investigating the sightings, Kirby said.

He stressed that the government does not believe the drones represent a threat to national security.

"There are more than one million drones lawfully registered with the FAA here in the US and there are thousands of commercial hobbyists and law enforcement drones that are lawfully in the sky on any given day," Kirby said.

Kirby spoke to reporters on Monday after the Pentagon indicated, drawing an analogy to vehicles that approach the base, it wouldn't shoot at something unless it presented as a "clear and present danger."

The Department of Homeland Security echoed Kirby's statement in a post to X late on Monday.

Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said the Defense Department has "no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat, or have a foreign nexus."

"We'll continue to do everything possible to investigate reports of concerning activity," he told reporters Monday. "But given how many drones are lawfully in our skies every day, we need to be careful to avoid assuming malintent or malicious behavior."

President-elect Donald Trump accused the US government on Monday of withholding information about the drones.

"The government knows what is happening," he said during public remarks at Mar-a-Lago. "And for some reason, they don't want to comment. I think they'd be better off saying what it is. Our military knows, and our president knows, and for some reason, they want to keep people in suspense."

"Something strange is going on," Trump said of the recent developments. "For some reason, they don't want to tell the people."

Mayors of 21 towns in New Jersey sent a letter Monday to the state's governor, Phil Murphy, demanding more transparency.

"Despite inquiries made to relevant authorities, we have yet to receive satisfactory answers about the purpose, operators, or safety protocols governing these flights," the letter says.

Where have residents reported seeing drones and unidentified aircraft?

Residents and officials have reported spotting unidentified aircraft, believed to be drones, flying above New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Ohio in recent weeks.

Murphy, the New Jersey governor, said late Monday that he had received a briefing from FBI Newark on their investigation.

"We are ready to assist the federal government in getting to the bottom of this," he added.

Murphy told reporters on Monday that some of the suspected drones spotted over his state are "very sophisticated" and can "go dark" the "minute you get eyes on them." Others have described the flying objects as bigger than normal hobby-style drones and able to avoid detection.

"This is something we're taking deadly seriously and we've gotten good cooperation out of the feds, but we need more," Murphy said.

Drones have been spotted near Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle, both military bases in New Jersey, and an airport in New York serving the public and the military.

However, officials have stressed such sightings are not necessarily unusual.

"This is not a new issue for us. We've had to deal with drone incursions over our bases for quite a time now," the spokesperson for the Joint Staff said Saturday. "It's something that we routinely respond to in each and every case when reporting is cited."

There have also been reports of suspected drones following a US Coast Guard vessel, as well as local police statements on the presence of unidentified aircraft near critical infrastructure.

US Northern Command, which is responsible for overseeing the protection of the US homeland, said over the weekend it was "aware and monitoring the reports of unauthorized drone flights in the vicinity of military installations in New Jersey."

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio acknowledged that drone activity near the base led officials there to close its airspace for several hours late Friday night and into Saturday.

A recording of a controller from the Wright-Patterson air traffic control tower that was shared by The War Zone, which first reported the incursions, urges an aircraft to "use extreme caution for heavy UAS movement on the base."

What are officials saying about these mystery drones?

Trump said Friday on Truth Social that there are mystery drones being sighted all over the country. "Can this really be happening without our government's knowledge," he wrote. "I don't think so!"

He suggested that they be shot down. Other officials have expressed concern about shooting them down due to the threat to local populations of falling debris. Neither kinetic nor electronic warfare methods are particularly ideal near civilian areas.

New Jersey State Assemblyman Brian Bergen told CNN News Central's Sara Sidner on Monday that "we shouldn't be shooting things down right now."

"Look, I was an attack helicopter pilot in the US Army. I flew overseas. I have seen bullets fly through the sky. It's not a great idea to do over the United States," he said. "Things should not be shot out of the sky. That is a very dangerous thing to do."

The FBI and New Jersey State Police issued a joint statement on Monday warning of "a concern with people possibly firing weapons at what they believe to be a UAS," as well as increased incidences of pilots being dazzled by lasers.

There could be "deadly consequences" of these actions, they said.

Amid the confusion on the drones, there has been a lot of speculation, including from officials.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey said on Fox News last Wednesday that the drones came from an Iranian "mothership" off the East Coast of the United States, citing "very high sources."

Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh rejected the congressman's claim in a press conference later that day, saying "there is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States, and there's no so-called mothership launching drones toward the United States."

Singh said that the Pentagon has no evidence that the reported drone sightings are the work of a foreign adversary. While Iran does have vessels that can carry drones, they were spotted off its southern coast as recently as Thursday — debunking Van Drew's claims.

He doubled down on Thursday, saying the government isn't telling the truth. The congressman said it could be another ship belonging to another foe. A Department of Homeland Security official said Saturday that there is no evidence of any foreign-based involvement in sending drones ashore from vessels in the area.

"We're doing our best to find the origin of those drone activities," an FBI official told reporters Saturday. "But I think there has been a slight overreaction."

Local officials, meanwhile, have been calling for additional information.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Saturday called for increased federal oversight of drones and said runways at Stewart International Airport in Orange County were shut down for an hour due to unidentified drone activity. "This has gone too far," she said.

Hochul called on Congress to strengthen the Federal Aviation Administration's oversight of drones and provide counter-unmanned aircraft equipment to local law enforcement. On Sunday, she posted to social media that the federal government was sending a "drone detection system" to her state.

Previous unidentified flying objects and drone sightings

There have been a number of sightings of suspected drones and other unusual flying objects over or around military installations in recent years.

In February 2023, for example, the United States shot down three unidentified objects flying over American airspace over the course of three days. The incidents were part of a saga that followed the US takedown of a spy balloon off the coast of North Carolina the government said came from China.

As for drone activity, The Wall Street Journal reported in October that drones had been spotted over a military base in Virginia and the Energy Department's Nevada National Security Site the year prior. Retired US Air Force Gen. Mark Kelly, until March of this year the head of Air Combat Command, said that he learned about the sightings in December 2023, when officials at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia reported seeing dozens of drones flying over the base at night. It's unclear who was behind those incidents.

While the federal government says that the latest sightings are not the work of adversaries or a public security threat, multiple recent incidents near bases have raised national security concerns.

For instance, federal authorities on Monday charged a Chinese citizen residing in California, Yinpiao Zhou, with failure to register a non-transportation aircraft and violation of national defense airspace. The Justice Department accused Zhou of using a drone to photograph Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County on November 30.

Police arrested Zhou at the San Francisco International Airport before he boarded a China-bound flight.

And another man, Fengyun Shi, a Chinese national, was sentenced to six months in federal prison in October for photographing US Navy ships with a drone in Virginia. Fengyun, a student at the University of Minnesota, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of unauthorized use of aircraft for the unlawful photographing of a designated installation.

The FBI official who spoke to reporters on Saturday said of the most recent sightings: "We are doing everything we can, alongside our partners, to understand what is happening and whether or not there is more nefarious activity that we need to explore."

• Anduril and Archer are partnering to develop military vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
• Anduril, known for AI military tech, has secured multimillion-dollar US contracts.
• Archer has specialized in electric tiltrotor aircraft for urban use.

Tech entrepreneur Palmer Luckey's Anduril is teaming up with Archer Aviation to create a new generation of vertical takeoff aircraft it hopes to sell to the US military.

A vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or VTOL, can operate without a runway. VTOL aircraft include helicopters, as well as jets and tiltrotor aircraft that have the advantage of faster airspeeds. Depending on the design, these future aircraft could compete for Defense Department contracts to be logistics workhorses or multi-mission utility aircraft.

Anduril, which specializes in AI-powered vehicles for military use, has secured several multimillion-dollar contracts from the US government in recent years. Luckey founded Anduril in 2017 after previously founding virtual reality company Oculus, which he sold to Meta for $2 billion.

Archer is an aviation company that generally makes electric tiltrotor aircraft for urban use. The partnership with Aduril is the company's first project in its new defense initiative, Archer Defense.

Archer said in a news release that it will use its ability to "rapidly develop advanced VTOL aircraft using existing commercial parts" and Anduril's "deep expertise in artificial intelligence, missionization, and systems integration" to develop hybrid VTOL aircraft at a "fraction of the cost."

Archer CEO and founder Adam Goldstein said the aircraft it panned to develop with Anduril could be weaponized for military applications, or they could be used for surveillance, reconnaissance, and rescue missions, according to Tech Crunch.

Archer also raised $430 million of additional capital from investors, including Stellantis and United Airlines, the company said.

"The Archer team has deep expertise in the rapid design, engineering, and production of next-generation vertical-lift aircraft," Goldstein said in the release. "With Anduril by our side and this new influx of capital, we will accelerate the development and deployment of advanced aerospace technologies at scale."

The US military is a major buyer of VTOL aircraft. The Marine Corps flies Lockheed Martin's F-35B jump-jet, seen as a replacement for the AV-8B Harrier. And the US Army chose Bell's V-280 Valor tiltrotor to replace its UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters made by Sikorsky; the V-280 has almost twice the Blackhawk's speed.

Tiltrotors, like those built by Archer, are enticing to the US military because their mission sets could range from logistics runs to carrying soldiers on air assaults.

There may also be interest in a tiltrotor whose $84 million price tag and safety record compares favorably with Bell Boeing's embattled V-22 Osprey. The US military first commissioned the V-22 Osprey, a tiltrotor that can carry 24 passengers, in 2007. Several V-22 crashes since 2007 have killed over 50 people, earning the machine the nickname of "the widow-maker."

In November 2023, a V-22 Osprey crashed off the coast of Japan, killing eight airmen. The crash resulted in the US military grounding its entire V-22 Osprey fleet.

Anduril declined to comment on its partnership with Archer.

Shae Arnoult, senior vice president of engineering at the company, said in the news release that Anduril and Archer "share a common vision for advancing capabilities that meet urgent national security needs, and we look forward to partnering with Archer to bring advanced vertical lift aircraft to our customers."

• US regulations bar China from directly acquiring Nvidia's powerful H100 GPUs.
• That hasn't stopped ByteDance from becoming Nvidia's largest buyer in China.
• The company is also working around the export ban by increasing computing capacity outside China.

ByteDance is the biggest buyer of Nvidia's AI chips inside China as the TikTok owner seeks to establish itself in the artificial intelligence sector, the Financial Times reported.

A US export ban introduced in 2022 restricts China from acquiring Nvidia's more advanced GPUs. One is the H100 — a coveted chip that powers data-hungry AI models and has helped turn Nvidia into a $3 trillion company amid the global AI boom.

The ban limits China to Nvidia's less powerful H20 chip. In May, Chinese government officials asked local tech companies to buy domestic-made chips instead.

Despite the US regulation and China's pleas, ByteDance has emerged as Nvidia's largest buyer of AI chips, sources who spoke to FT said. One source told the publication that ByteDance is Nvidia's largest customer in Asia.

The report did not disclose a figure, but The Information reported in September that the TikTok parent company placed orders for more than 200,000 Nvidia H20s this year.

Bytedance appears to be seeking a workaround to the US ban to get its hands on Nvidia's H100 and Blackwell chips by increasing computing capacity outside of China, including plans for new data centers in Malaysia, sources familiar with the matter told the FT.

ByteDance did not immediately return a request for comment from Business Insider on Sunday.

The TikTok owner's push to acquire more Nvidia chips is part of the company's broader effort to establish itself as an AI powerhouse.

The company has siphoned top engineers from rival companies and startups, according to the FT. In 2021, the company indicated plans to attract overseas AI talent, Business Insider reported.

Bytedance is also joining a chorus of Big Tech companies looking to disrupt Nvidia's dominance by developing its own chip. Sources familiar with the matter told the FT that the company is building an AI chip for machine learning modeled after Google's Tensor Processing Unit.

Earlier this year, ByteDance unveiled a tool not available to the public called StreamVoice. This tool allows users to change their voice into another person, such as a celebrity, with AI. The company also launched Cici AI, an AI-powered chat assistant that relies on OpenAI's GPT.

Amid its push to become a formidable player in the AI race, ByteDance still faces major hurdles, including a slowed user growth rate on TikTok and an uncertain future in the US, where an appeals court recently upheld a ban on the short-form video platform. Judges concluded that ByteDance must sell TikTok to avoid being banned from app stores.

Several ultrawealthy investors have offered to buy the platform, including Kevin O'Leary of "Shark Tank," former treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, and billionaire former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt.

"We don't want to see it banned," McCourt said on Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation. "I'd add that President-elect Trump has also said he doesn't want to see it banned. So now, let's talk about the sale."

• The US military struck ISIS targets in Syria on Sunday as rebel groups toppled the government.
• Longtime Syrian leader Bashar Assad fled Damascus for Moscow.
• President Joe Biden said US forces would remain in Syria to fight ISIS.

The US military said it carried out dozens of precision strikes against ISIS targets in central Syria on Sunday.

The widespread airstrikes came after a dayslong blitz by rebel forces that ultimately led to the downfall of Syria's longtime leader, Bashar Assad. Russian state news media reported Sunday that Assad had arrived in Moscow, where he was given asylum.

US Central Command, which oversees Middle East operations, said it struck ISIS leaders, operatives, and camps to prevent the terrorist group from rebuilding in central Syria amid the chaos.

Centcom said it used US Air Force B-52 bombers, F-15 fighter jets, and A-10 attack aircraft to strike over 75 targets, adding that battle damage assessments are underway. A senior administration official, speaking to reporters, described the operation as "significant" and said about 140 munitions were used. It is unclear what missiles or bombs may have been used.

"There should be no doubt — we will not allow ISIS to reconstitute and take advantage of the current situation in Syria," Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, the Centcom commander, said in a statement. "All organizations in Syria should know that we will hold them accountable if they partner with or support ISIS in any way."

Syrian anti-government forces announced early on Sunday morning that they had taken control of Damascus. It was the culmination of 13 years of civil war, which began in 2011 after Assad's forces violently cracked down on peaceful demonstrators.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an organization that traces its origins to Al Qaeda but has since split from the group and portrayed itself as more moderate, launched the surprise offensive in late November. The rebels quickly took control of Aleppo, one of Syria's largest cities, Hama, and the strategic city of Homs before advancing into Damascus.

President Joe Biden, in a press briefing on Sunday, acknowledged that the US conducted airstrikes "targeting ISIS camps and ISIS operatives" inside Syria.

"We're clear-eyed about the fact that ISIS will try to take advantage of any vacuum to re-establish its capability to create a safe haven," Biden said. "We will not let that happen."

Biden said that the US would support Syria's neighbors Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Israel "should any threat arise from Syria during this transition."

The United States has about 900 troops in Syria carrying out missions against ISIS. Biden said on Sunday that these forces will remain in the country despite Assad's ouster.

The US routinely works with local forces in Syria and neighboring Iraq to carry out operations against ISIS, dozens of which have taken place in recent months.

• President-elect Donald Trump once supported a US ban on TikTok.
• Then, during the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump said he would "save TikTok."
• His cabinet picks might indicate what position he'll ultimately take once in office.

President-elect Donald Trump's views on whether TikTok, which a Chinese company owns, poses a threat to the United States have shifted 180 degrees.

Will they come full circle?

In April, lawmakers concerned about Chinese influence passed a law giving ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, a deadline of January 19 to sell its social media app to a non-Chinese company or face a nationwide ban. TikTok appealed, but on Friday, a federal court upheld the law, siding with the Biden administration's argument that the service poses a national security threat.

In 2020, Trump unsuccessfully sought to ban TikTok in the United States but has since had a change of heart. During the 2024 campaign, Trump said young people would "go crazy without it." Trump's own TikTok accounts generated millions of views.

Which side Trump ultimately lands on the issue could have a major impact on ByteDance and TikTok, which says it has over 170 million users in the United States. Even if the law is upheld after future appeals, Trump could choose not to enforce it during his presidency.

Trump's closest advisors, however, might have something to say about that. Some of Trump's top cabinet nominees support a TikTok ban.

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida — Trump's nominee for secretary of state — called a ban a "win for America" earlier this year. Trump's pick for Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, also advocated for a TikTok ban in Project 2025, a road map for the first 180 days of a new Republican presidency that the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, published in 2023.

Carr wrote in the plan that TikTok is part of a Beijing "foreign influence campaign by determining the news and information that the app feeds to millions of Americans."

Project 2025 refers to TikTok as "a tool of Chinese espionage" that is "highly addictive" and "especially popular with teenage girls."

"The ties between TikTok and the Chinese government are not loose, and they are not coincidental," the document reads.

John Ratcliffe, the former US director of national intelligence, is Trump's pick for CIA director. Ratcliffe, also an author of Project 2025, told Fox News in 2022 that he thinks TikTok is a "national security threat."

Govs. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, Trump's pick for interior secretary, and Kristi Noem of South Dakota, the president-elect's choice for Homeland Security secretary, both previously banned the app from state-owned devices.

TikTok has denied accusations that it influences content inside the United States or is addictive to children.

A spokesperson for TikTok told Business Insider that the TikTok ban law was "conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people."

"The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans' right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue," the spokesperson said.

• The Salt Typhoon hack is one of the largest attacks on US telecommunications ever, officials say.
• The yearslong attack originated in China and targeted major telecom companies like AT&T and Verizon.
• The NSA says it believes Chinese hackers were targeting senior US political figures.

US security officials have warned that millions of people's personal information could be at risk after a yearslong hacking campaign originating in China.

The US government started investigating the hack in the summer after Microsoft — which named the hack the Salt Typhoon — sounded alarms about anomalies.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, White House Deputy national security advisor Anne Neuberger said that while data belonging to millions of Americans was likely compromised, the hack targeted senior US officials.

"We believe the calls they recorded and took was really more focused on very senior political individuals," she said.

A report from the Congressional Research Office said Chinese hackers may have sought access to presidential candidates' communications. "With that access, they could potentially retrieve unencrypted communication (e.g., voice calls and text messages)," the report says.

A senior NSA official said in October that hackers from China accessed information from AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen Technologies, according to NBC.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner told The Washington Post that the hack is the "worst telecom hack in our nation's history by far."

"This is an ongoing effort by China to infiltrate telecom systems around the world, to exfiltrate huge amounts of data," Warner told the outlet.

The New York Times reported that hackers from China went undetected inside American telecommunications companies for over a year and obtained a nearly complete list of phone numbers that the Justice Department monitors in its "lawful intercept" system. The lawful intercept system is what allows law enforcement, through a court order, to wiretap or "bug" phone calls.

The FBI warned that all US citizens should use a cellphone that automatically updates its operating system and use encryption and multifactor authentication for email and social media accounts.

Neuberger said in an earlier press call on Wednesday that the government does not believe any of the targeted telecom companies have "fully removed" the Chinese hackers from their networks, and communications are still at risk. Senior White House officials on the call said the hack has been ongoing for "likely one to two years."

"President Biden has been briefed multiple times on this compromise," Neuberger told reporters. She added that the White House "has made it a priority for the federal government to do everything it can to get to the bottom of this."

Neuberger said that White House leaders are meeting three times a week to discuss the hack.

The Senate Commerce Subcommittee will hold a hearing on December 11 to discuss security threats to communications networks and review best practices for providers to mitigate consumer risks. The committee will focus on the Salt Typhoon attacks in the hearing.

• A gunman fatally shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4 in New York City.
• The NYPD launched a manhunt but has so far failed to capture the suspect.
• The suspect's evasion has revealed holes in surveillance, but police say it's just a matter of time.

The Manhattan shooting Wednesday of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was captured by a surveillance camera and shared on social media, where the footage racked up hundreds of thousands of views. Authorities later released full-color surveillance images of the gunman, including one that showed him with his mask pulled down and smiling.

Yet, the gunman is still at large after four days despite a citywide manhunt led by the largest metropolitan police force in the country. On Friday, authorities told CNN they believed the gunman had managed to leave the city by bus.

The gunman's ability to evade capture so far has highlighted the limits of surveillance, even in a city like New York, where authorities have access to thousands of cameras that can track millions of people daily.

"You have got to remember, he was running around a city of 9 million people," Joseph Giacolone, a former NYPD Sergeant and professor at the John Jay School of Criminal Justice, told Business Insider. "You know, it's not that easy to pick somebody up the street, especially if they're all buttoned up."

New York City is under constant surveillance by police and residents

After the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, George W. Bush's administration expanded surveillance across the country.

Bush signed the Aviation and Transportation Act that November, creating the Transportation Security Administration. That same year, the Bush administration ushered in the USA Patriot Act, which expanded law enforcement's ability to use surveillance.

The US Congress later created the Department of Homeland Security. The department launched a nationwide campaign — "If You See Something, Say Something" — encouraging citizens to report suspicious activity to law enforcement to prevent terrorism and other criminal acts.

Since then, the emphasis on surveillance and security has spread nationwide, including in New York City, where cameras are now everywhere.

Amnesty International, a human rights organization, said there were over 25,500 surveillance cameras in New York City in a 2022 report. The NYPD has used images from the ubiquitous cameras to track crimes and for use in facial recognition software.

The NYPD's "Facial Identification Section" received 9,850 requests for comparison and returned 2,510 possible matches in 2019 — a roughly 25% match rate. The agency said it's unaware of cases in NYC in which a person was falsely arrested due to a facial recognition match.

This May, New York City Mayor Eric Adams launched a pilot program focused on using technology to increase public safety. The "community-based security camera integration platform" will allow businesses to "voluntarily share information in real-time with the NYPD through existing closed-circuit television cameras," according to a press release.

The emergence of Amazon's Ring cameras and smartphones has added another layer of monitoring. In 2022, the NYPD said it would join and monitor the Neighbors app, where residents share information on crime and safety.

"While the NYPD will not monitor the app around the clock, it will have the capacity to view, post and respond to crime- and safety-related information posted publicly by the users of the app," a press release said.

The NYPD is "processing a tremendous amount of evidence"

Commissioner Jessica Tisch told CNN on Friday that the department had already collected "lots of forensic evidence" and was "processing a tremendous amount of evidence in this case."

She said there is also a "massive camera canvass" of the suspect's movements through the city.

Additionally, a law enforcement official told CNN that investigators found a backpack in Central Park they believe belonged to the suspect but had not officially confirmed where it came from. Authorities took the backpack for tests.

Giacolone told BI that while the shooting suspect has evaded capture for now, it will be difficult for him to elude authorities as they collect more evidence. The NYPD will be looking for what he called "the three horsemen of forensics" to solve the case, which are video surveillance, cellphone records, and internet records.

"I've been on these investigations," Giacolone said. "They know what hole he crawled out of, what hole he went back into. As far as I'm concerned, they already know who he is. They just got to find him."

• The court that upheld a law that could ban TikTok said the US showed no evidence China manipulates content.
• However, the court said TikTok has manipulated content at China's request elsewhere.
• TikTok denies content manipulation and says it expects the US Supreme Court to reverse the ban.

The appeals court that upheld a law that could ban TikTok in the United States said the government offered no evidence that China is manipulating content on the platform in the United States.

However, the panel of judges wrote in their opinion that evidence that China has compelled TikTok to manipulate content elsewhere was enough for it to uphold a federal law signed by President Joe Biden that would force TikTok's sale in the United States to an American company or ban it from app stores.

The US District Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia found on Friday in a majority opinion that the federal law is constitutional. The law, which was passed in April, requires TikTok's Chinese parent company, Bytedance, to divest from the company by January 19 or face a ban in the United States.

US officials across political lines have worried that TikTok poses a national security risk because of its Chinese ownership. Some members of Congress have said they fear that TikTok could be used as a propaganda tool to push narratives favorable to China's Communist Party.

In statements supporting the bill, Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Jake Auchincloss called TikTok "a tool of censorship and propaganda" for the Chinese Communist Party, and Republican Nebraska Rep. Mike Flood said the app has "been used as a tool of propaganda in our country."

Still, the federal appeals court wrote in its majority opinion that the government did not present any evidence that China has tried to manipulate content on TikTok in the United States.

"The Government acknowledges that it lacks specific intelligence that shows the PRC has in the past or is now coercing TikTok into manipulating content in the United States," the opinion says, referring to the People's Republic of China. However, the government argued in court that ByteDance and TikTok have censored content at China's request in other countries.

The appeals court wrote that TikTok "never squarely denies" that it has ever manipulated content on its platform at China's request, which it says is "striking" given the intelligence community's concerns. The court concluded that Bytedance and TikTok have "a demonstrated history" of manipulating content in other countries, sometimes at the request of China.

"That conclusion rests on more than mere speculation," the judges wrote in the court opinion. "It is the Government's 'informed judgment' to which we give great weight in this context, even in the absence of 'concrete evidence' on the likelihood of PRC-directed censorship of TikTok in the United States."

TikTok argued in court that its "recommendation engine," or algorithm, is not based in China because it is stored in the Oracle cloud. The court said that while this is correct, ByteDance still controls the source code for TikTok, including the recommendation engine.

"TikTok is therefore correct to say the recommendation engine 'is stored in the Oracle cloud,' but gains nothing by flyspecking the Government's characterization of the recommendation engine still being in China," the document says.

A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement to Business Insider that the TikTok ban "was conceived and pushed through based on inaccurate, flawed, and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people."

"The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans' right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue," TikTok said in the statement.

Like many social media networks, TikTok has faced intense scrutiny for how the app is used to influence elections. The company this week announced that it removed three "influence networks" on the app that attempted to impact an election in Romania after a probe by the country's defense council. The company said it removed at least 40 similar influence campaigns this year.

• Syrian dictator Bashar Assad has resigned and fled his country.
• Rebel forces said they seized control of the capital, Damascus.
• The collapse of Assad's government could have major global implications.

Syrians around the world celebrated as rebels, after more than a decadelong fight, finally toppled the country's longtime leader, Bashar Assad, on Sunday.

The Russian foreign ministry said on Sunday that Assad had resigned from his position as Syrian president and left the country. Russian state news reported that Assad had arrived in Moscow, where he's been granted asylum.

Syrian anti-government forces announced early on Sunday morning that they had advanced into Damascus, Syria's capital.

In a post on social media, rebel commander Hassan Abdul-Ghani said: "We declare Damascus free from the tyrant Bashar al-Assad."

"Today 8-12-2024 Syria is officially free," he added in a later post.

Hassan Akkad, who fled Syria in 2015 and is now based in the UK, posted to X, "Syria is free. Syria is free. Syria is free. Syria is free. Syria is free. Syria is free. Syria is free."

World leaders react

President-elect Donald Trump said on Truth Social on Sunday that Assad had "fled his country" after losing Russia's support.

"Assad is gone," Trump wrote. "His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer."

In a press briefing on Sunday, President Joe Biden called the fall of Assad's government "a fundamental act of justice" and "a moment of opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their proud country."

Biden said the US would support Syria's neighbors Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Israel "should any threat arise from Syria during this transition." Biden said the United States would also "maintain our mission against ISIS" inside the country, referring to the terrorist group operating in the region.

The US military conducted at least a dozen airstrikes inside Syria on Sunday, "targeting ISIS camps and ISIS operatives," Biden said.

The United States will also support Syria through the United Nations to create a new government through a process determined by the Syrian people, Biden said.

"The United States will do whatever we can to support them, including through humanitarian relief, to help restore Syria after more than a decade of war and generational brutality by the Assad family," Biden said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a Sunday statement, echoed the president's sentiment, saying the US "will support international efforts to hold the Assad regime and its backers accountable for atrocities and abuses perpetrated against the Syrian people, including the use of chemical weapons and the unjust detention of civilians such as Austin Tice."

The Syrian people, Blinken added, "finally have reason for hope."

Kaja Kallas, the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, called Assad's resignation "a positive and long-awaited development."

"It also shows the weakness of Assad's backers, Russia and Iran," Kallas said in a statement. "Our priority is to ensure security in the region. I will work with all the constructive partners in Syria and in the region."

Geir Pedersen, the UN's Special Envoy for Syria, said in a statement, "Today marks a watershed moment in Syria's history."

How rebels took control of Aleppo

In late November, the coalition of rebel groups launched a surprise offensive led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, which traces its origins to the Al Qaeda terrorist network. It has more recently promoted more moderate views.

The rebels quickly took control of Aleppo, one of Syria's largest cities, Hama, and the strategic city of Homs, which sits at an important crossroads linking Damascus to the coast.

Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the leader of HTS, is a Syrian who fought against US occupation in Iraq with Al Qaeda. He is believed to have cut ties with the terrorist organization in 2016 but is still designated a terrorist by the US, which has placed a $10 million bounty on his head.

Al-Jolani has sought to portray himself as a more moderate leader and promoted messages of religious and ethnic inclusivity as HTS pushed toward Damascus. Still, HTS has a reputation as a hardline Islamist faction.

"This victory, my brothers, is a victory for the entire Islamic nation," Al-Jolani said in a speech to his followers this weekend, per a translation by CNN. "This new triumph, my brothers, marks a new chapter in the history of the region."

What Assad's ousting means for Russia and Iran

The collapse of Assad's government could have significant global implications, especially for Russia and Iran, which have been two of Assad's strongest allies.

Moscow operates two major military facilities in Syria — the Hmeimim airbase and the Tartus naval base — which have given its forces crucial access to the Mediterranean Sea and a base to launch operations into Africa.

Losing access to these bases would scupper many of Russian President Vladimir Putin's plans in the region, Zineb Riboua, a research fellow and program manager at the Hudson Institute's Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, wrote on X: "Without a strong Russian military base in Syria, all of Putin's plans collapse."

While Russia intervened to prop up Assad in 2015, its priorities have since shifted to the war in Ukraine, and it had appeared reluctant to divert any significant resources to help Assad this time around.

On Sunday, Russia's foreign ministry said there was no security threat to its military bases in Syria but that they were on high alert.

For Iran, Syria has been part of an important land corridor stretching from Tehran to Baghdad, Damascus, and Beirut, helping it support key regional proxies such as the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

"For Iran, Syria is absolutely essential in order to maintain its proxy network," Natasha Hall, a senior fellow with the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, previously told Business Insider.

But Tehran, too, has been distracted by its conflict with Israel, while Hezbollah has been left in disarray after Israel killed its longtime leader and wounded thousands of its fighters with exploding pagers and walkie-talkies.

In a separate post on TruthSocial on Saturday, Trump called on the United States to stay out of the situation in Syria, writing: "Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!"

This story is being updated as the situation unfolds.

• A panel of judges ruled that a law forcing the sale or ban of TikTok in the US is constitutional.
• The panel heard arguments about national security and the First Amendment.
• The case is likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court. Once in office, Trump may also intervene.

TikTok's future in the US is looking dimmer.

A three-judge panel from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled on Friday that a law designed to force a TikTok sale or ban is constitutional.

Congress passed the law, called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, in April. The law makes it illegal for companies like Apple and Google to host apps owned by a foreign adversary that permit users to "create an account or profile to generate, share, and view text, images, videos, real-time communications, or similar content."

It identified TikTok and its owner, ByteDance, as covered companies. ByteDance operates in China, which the US has deemed a foreign adversary.

The law gave ByteDance until January 19 to either divest itself of TikTok's US assets or be booted from app stores.

TikTok challenged the law in May, arguing that it violated its users' First Amendment rights. Its argument failed.

"The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States," the court ruling says. "Here the Government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary's ability to gather data on people in the United States."

TikTok said in response to the ruling on Friday that the law amounts to government censorship of the over 170 million Americans who use the app.

"The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans' right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue," TikTok said.

Why did the US government target TikTok?

US officials in both parties have worried that the app poses a national security risk because of its Chinese owner. Some have raised concerns that ByteDance could be required to pass along US user data to the Chinese Communist Party, as mandated by a national intelligence law. Members of Congress have also said they fear that TikTok could be used as a propaganda tool to push narratives favorable to the CCP.

TikTok has said it doesn't share information with the Chinese government and emphasized that its content moderation is managed by a US-based team that "operates independently from China."

TikTok is likely to appeal the decision, and it may end up in front of the Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court upholds the ruling, TikTok may have a savior in President-elect Donald Trump.

Trump once tried to ban TikTok, but he's since flip-flopped and said he'd try to rescue the app once in office.

Legal experts previously told BI that the incoming president could instruct his Justice Department to not enforce the divest-or-ban law, or make a claim that it simply doesn't apply to TikTok. Both strategies may be tough to defend against a legal challenge, particularly if the Supreme Court rules against TikTok.

Trump could also try to broker a sale of TikTok to a new owner that isn't tied to a foreign adversary.

ByteDance has said it wouldn't sell TikTok's US assets, but it may be more open to the idea if other options are off the table.

Some members of Congress seem to prefer a sale. Rep. John Moolenaar, the chairman of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, told BI in November that the Trump administration would "have a unique opportunity to broker an American takeover of the platform, allowing TikTok users to continue to enjoy a safer, better version of the app free from foreign-adversary control."

• OpenAI partnered with Anduril to enhance AI in defense tech.
• Anduril, known for autonomous military drones, has secured major US government contracts recently.
• The partnership aims to improve US counter-unmanned aircraft systems, the company said.

OpenAI is getting into the world of defense tech through a partnership with Palmer Luckey's Anduril.

On Thursday, Anduril said it entered a partnership with OpenAI to "deploy advanced artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for national security missions."

The partnership will focus on improving the US counter-unmanned aircraft systems' ability to detect and respond to aerial threats, the company said in a statement.

The company also said that their partnership is a "pivotal moment" in the accelerating AI race between the US and China.

"The decisions made now will determine whether the United States remains a leader in the 21st century or risks being outpaced by adversaries who don't share our commitment to freedom and democracy and would use AI to threaten other countries," Anduril said.

Anduril, which generally makes autonomous vehicles for military use, has secured several multimillion-dollar contracts from the US government in recent years. Luckey founded Anduril in 2017 after previously founding virtual reality company Oculus, which he sold to Meta for $2 billion.

Anduril in October unveiled its new AI-powered Bolt-M drone, which can fit inside a backpack. The company developed the drones as part of $249 million in contracts awarded to Anduril, AeroVironment, and Teledyne FLIR to provide self-destructing drones for the Defense Department.

Defense tech leaders, including Luckey, have warned that AI could lead to a future of warfare dominated by cheap autonomous machinery like drones. Scott Sacknoff, president of aerospace and defense investment firm Spade Index, previously told Business Insider that autonomous drones are "definitely a trend."

Sacknoff said the military defense business is constantly looking for a "counter" to the newest technology and that the growth of autonomous drones would likely bring more innovations to stop them.

"The next phase will be someone — and they already are — working on developing the technology to be countering drones," he said.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in the statement that OpenAI supports "US-led efforts" to ensure that artificial intelligence "upholds democratic values."

"Our partnership with Anduril will help ensure OpenAI technology protects US military personnel, and will help the national security community understand and responsibly use this technology to keep our citizens safe and free," Altman said.

OpenAI and Anduril didn't respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

• Sam Altman's basic-income study showed recipients valued work more after getting monthly payments.
• The finding challenges arguments against such programs that say a basic income discourages work.
• Participants got $1,000 a month for three years, making it one of the largest studies of its kind.

New findings from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's basic-income study found that recipients valued work more after receiving no-strings-attached recurring monthly payments, challenging a long-held argument against such programs.

Altman's basic-income study, which published initial findings in July, was one of the largest of its kind. It gave low-income participants $1,000 a month for three years to spend however they wanted.

Participants reported significant reductions in stress, mental distress, and food insecurity during the first year, though those effects faded by the second and third years of the program.

"Cash alone cannot address challenges such as chronic health conditions, lack of childcare, or the high cost of housing," the first report in July said.

In its new paper, researchers studied the effect the payments had on recipients' political views and participation, as well as their attitudes toward work.

They found little to no change in their politics, including their views on a broader cash program.

"It's sort of fascinating, and it underscores the kind of durability of people's political views that lots of people who felt kind of mildly supportive of programs like this before, they stay mildly supportive; people who were opposed, they stay opposed," David Broockman, coauthor of the study, told Business Insider.

Universal basic income has become a flashy idea in the tech industry, as leaders like Altman and newly minted government efficiency chief Elon Musk see it as a way to mitigate AI's potential impact on jobs.

Still, enacting universal basic income as a political policy is a heavy lift, so several cities and states have experimented with small-scale guaranteed basic incomes instead. These programs provide cash payments without restrictions to select low-income or vulnerable populations.

Data from dozens of these smaller programs have found that cash payments can help alleviate homelessness, unemployment, and food insecurity — though results still stress the need for local and state governments to invest in social services and housing infrastructure.

Critics say basic income programs — whether guaranteed or universal — won't be effective because they encourage laziness and discourage work.

However, OpenResearch director Elizabeth Rhodes told BI that the study participants showed a "greater sense of the intrinsic value of work."

Rhodes said researchers saw a strong belief among participants that work should be required to receive government support through programs like Medicaid or a hypothetical future unconditional cash program. The study did show a slight increase in unemployment among recipients, but Rhodes said that overall attitudes toward working remained the same.

"It is interesting that it is not like a change in the value of work," Rhodes said. "If anything, they value work more. And that is reflected. People are more likely to be searching for a job. They're more likely to have applied for jobs."

Broockman said the study's results can offer insights into how future basic income programs can be successful. Visibility and transparency will be key if basic income is tried as government policy because the government often spends money in ways that "people don't realize is government spending," Broockman said.

"Classic examples are things like the mortgage interest tax deduction, which is a huge break on taxes, a huge transfer to people with mortgages. A lot of people don't think of that as a government benefit they're getting, even though it's one of the biggest government benefits in the federal budget," Broockman said. "Insofar as a policy like this ever would be tried, trying to administer it in a way that is visible to people is really important."

Broockman added that the study's results don't necessarily confirm the fears or hopes expressed by skeptics or supporters of a basic income on either side of the aisle.

Conservative lawmakers in places like Texas, South Dakota, and Iowa have moved to block basic income programs, with much of the opposition coming from fears of creeping "socialism."

"For liberals, for example, a liberal hope and a conservative fear might be, people get this transfer, and then all of a sudden it transforms them into supporting much bigger redistribution, and we just don't find that," Broockman said.

Broockman said that many participants in the program would make comments like "Well, I used it well, but I think other people would waste it."

One hope from conservatives would be that once people become more economically stable, they could become more economically conservative, but Broockman said the study results do not indicate that either.

Broockman said that an unconditional cash program like this "might not change politics or people's political views per se" but that its apolitical nature could possibly "speak well to the political viability of a program like this."

• TikTok is facing scrutiny in Romania for election interference.
• Romania's defense council says TikTok's algorithm fueled the rise of a far-right candidate.
• TikTok denied the claim that it treated any political candidate's content differently from others.

TikTok is facing accustions from regulators in Romania that content on the platform improperly influenced the country's presidential election.

Romania's Supreme Council of National Defense said in a statement on Thursday that one candidate "benefited from massive exposure due to preferential treatment" from TikTok.

Călin Georgescu, a far-right populist and ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, defeated leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, the heavy favorite, in the first round of presidential voting on November 24. Georgescu, who was virtually unknown before the election, catapulted from obscurity thanks in part to his viral TikTok videos.

The win secured Georgescu a place in a runoff vote scheduled for December 8. The Romanian Constitutional Court ordered a re-verification of the result following his surprise victory.

Georgescu has courted controversy with his pro-Russian and anti-NATO rhetoric, calling Ukraine an "invented country," according to the Associated Press. Romania borders Ukraine and is a NATO member.

In its statement, the Romanian defense council said there is growing interest inside Russia to "influence the public agenda in Romanian society" and disrupt social cohesion.

Georgescu's sudden popularity on TikTok appears to have helped fuel his election victory. One Romanian think tank told the AP that his TikTok following and engagement — his posts garnered over 100 million views in the weeks before the election — appeared "sudden and artificial."

The Supreme Council of National Defense said TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, failed to label the videos of one candidate — presumed to be Georgescu — as campaign content. The defense council said that not labeling the content as campaign-related drastically increased its visibility on TikTok.

"Thus, the visibility of that candidate increased significantly in relation to the other candidates who were recognized by the TikTok algorithms as candidates for the presidential elections, and the content promoted by them was massively filtered, exponentially decreasing their visibility among platform users," the statement said.

The accusation against TikTok in Romania mirrors similar claims against Facebook during the 2016 US presidential election when Russia used the social media platform to sow discord that favored Republicans and Donald Trump.

TikTok has also faced scrutiny in the United States for allowing political ads that included disinformation in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election.

TikTok did not immediately return a request for comment from Business Insider. A spokesperson for the company told Politico that it denies that Georgescu was treated differently by the platform than other candidates.

"It is categorically false to claim his account was treated differently to any other candidate," spokesperson Paolo Ganino told the outlet. Ganino added that Georgescu was treated "in the same way as every other candidate on TikTok, and subject to exactly the same rules and restrictions."

• Boeing's CEO is cutting private jet use for executives to reduce costs.
• The company directed executives to fly economy on commercial flights instead.
• Boeing is searching for ways to save money after a rough year.

Boeing's new CEO is cutting back on expensive private jet flights for the company's top executives in a cost cutting move.

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg grounded much of the company's fleet of private jets and is now directing executives to fly economy on scheduled commercial flights, Bloomberg reported.

Data from flight tracker Flightradar24, compiled by Bloomberg, shows that Boeing's number of private flights dropped from 146 in August to 56 in September and just 29 in October.

Boeing's corporate planes collectively flew about 4,500 hours across some 1,800 flights in 2023, according to data from the aviation-tracking website JetSpy. That amounts to about $14 million in fuel and about 22,500 tons in CO2 emissions.

Boeing disclosed in an April SEC filing that air travel for four executives alone has totaled $1.9 million since 2021. According to CNN, former Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun's air travel cost $979,000 during that period.

Ortberg's cost-cutting efforts are another attempt to get back on track after a difficult year for Boeing. Since January, Boeing has navigated persistent problems, including two astronauts left stranded at the International Space Station for months due to mechanical issues with its CST-100 Starliner spaceship.

The company also faced criticism after a door plug fell off during an Alaska Airlines flight, an exodus of corporate executives, production delays, and more.

In September, thousands of unionized employees walked out after contract negotiations failed. That cost Boeing an estimated $50 million a day, according to Bank of America.

The seven-week strike ended in early November when unionized Boeing employees approved a new contract proposal.

Boeing did not immediately return a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Elon Musk praised Apple's new hearing aid feature for AirPods.
• The FDA approved the feature as the first over-the-counter hearing aid software.
• Musk has previously been critical of Apple, including its partnership with ChatGPT.

Elon Musk, who has previously criticized Apple, appears to have been won over by one new feature.

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Thursday shared an advertisement for the company's new hearing aid offering on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. It shows a hard-of-hearing father using the feature on the Apple AirPods Pro 2 to hear his daughter opening Christmas presents.

"This is cool," Musk said about the ad on Friday. Musk also shared Cook's Thanksgiving message on X, where he said he was thankful for "our team at Apple, our users, and all those dedicated to making the world a better place."

The Tesla founder's relationship with Apple has not always been so friendly. His beef with the tech giant started in 2015 when he joked in a German newspaper interview that Apple had employed Tesla's rejects.

He stepped up the criticism again in June after Apple announced a partnership with OpenAI. Musk posted a series of statements on X denouncing Apple's move to integrate ChatGPT as an opt-in feature across its software on iOS 18, calling it an "unacceptable security violation" and vowing to ban Apple products at his companies if the integration goes through.

Musk, whose Grok AI chatbot is a ChatGPT competitor and who was a cofounder of OpenAI, also mocked Apple's foray into artificial-intelligence, posting that the company wasn't "smart enough to make their own AI."

"Don't want it," Musk wrote in a June response to a Tim Cook post promoting Apple Intelligence on X. "Either stop this creepy spyware or all Apple devices will be banned from the premises of my companies."

More than 30 million Americans suffer from some degree of hearing loss, according to the FDA. The hearing aid feature on Apple's AirPods Pro 2 lets users take a hearing test or use their own hearing test results from a healthcare professional to adjust sounds to match their hearing range when wearing the AirPods.

• Matcha has exploded in popularity on TikTok.
• Cafés are reporting that matcha suppliers are hiking up prices or setting purchase limits.
• TikTok's most popular brands appear to be hit hard.

TikTok's obsession with matcha has appeared to create a shortage of the tea in Japan.

TikTok's most popular tea brands appear to be hit hard.

The smooth, bright green powder plays a central role in Japanese tea ceremonies, and while it takes only a few seconds to dissolve in water, it can take an entire year to grow.

Matcha production has remained consistent, but sharp increases in demand driven by social media have created a strain on the industry, The Guardian reported.

Megumi Kanaike, manager of Simply Native, a tea shop in Sydney said that producers of the highest-quality matcha in Kyoto, Japan, recently increased prices by up to 40%, which is the first price hike in many years, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

"You'll probably notice prices in cafés start to go up as well," she says.

Kanaike's shop announced limits on online matcha purchases because of the shortage, she told the outlet earlier this month.

"Several suppliers have told us they're pausing production and putting a stop on any future orders," she said.

Marukyu Koyamaen, a brand that is often featured in popular "matcha haul" TikTok videos, shows that it is completely sold out of green matcha powder on its website. Zach Mangan, owner of a Brooklyn-based tea company, Kettl, told Eater a. Marukyu Koyamaen representative told him the company did "roughly six months of sales in a little less than a month."

Marukyu Koyamaen and TikTok did not immediately return requests for comment from Business Insider about the reported matcha shortage.

TikTok influencers traveling to Japan to try the country's authentic matcha have also reported having a hard time finding it once they arrive. One TikTok video shows a sign at a Japanese matcha shop that says the shop sold too much in the summer months and "ran out of raw materials."

"Due to the stricter purchase restrictions, the quantities available to our shop are now very low," the sign reads. "As a result, it should be extremely difficult to purchase matcha until next year's new tea harvest. This situation is the same in Kyoto, Tokyo, and everywhere else in Japan."

Inside Japan, matcha consumption had been on a decline for the past few decades, with consumption rates dropping from 1,174 grams per household in 2001 to 844 grams in 2015, according to Eater. In the US, sales of matcha have reached more than $10 billion in the last 25 years, according to the outlet.

Some creators on "#matchatok" have also reported harassment and bullying from people on TikTok who blame their overconsumption and promotion of matcha for the ongoing shortage. One matcha creator called Kithumini, with more than 62,000 followers, said in a video that her physician and her therapist told her to turn off TikTok comments because of all the negativity she has received.

"Yes, there may be a matcha shortage for the brands that you like purchasing from, but that does not mean that all matcha is gone," she says in the video.

Kithumini added in the video that she recently went to a café that was selling Marukyu Koyamaen matcha and that "even aside from that brand, there are so many good brands out there."

"So many of y'all out there are making other people's matcha consumption your business," she says in the video. "No, that's just between that person's caffeine tolerance and their wallet, not you."

• A Florida man scammed a woman out of $250,000 by posing as Elon Musk, police say.
• The scam involved a fake Facebook account promising high returns on investments.
• Musk's identity is frequently used in scams, including deepfake crypto schemes.

A Florida man pretending to be billionaire Elon Musk on Facebook scammed an older woman out of over $250,000, police say.

Police arrested Jeffrey Moynihan, Jr., 56, earlier this week for grand theft. The Bradenton Police Department said in a statement that financial records show the woman from Texas sent at least $250,000 to Moynihan's business in Florida.

The victim's husband told police that she sent "approximately $600,000" to Moynihan in total.

Bradenton police say they arrested Moynihan at his home on November 19, noting that the real Elon Musk was likely busy at the time with the 6th test flight of the SpaceX Starship, which occurred the same day.

The 74-year-old victim befriended someone named "Elon Musk" on Facebook in 2023, police said. The woman messaged with the fake account for "several months" as he encouraged her to invest in his businesses.

The fake Musk account promised the woman a $55 million investment return. Instead, the money went directly into bank accounts owned by Moynihan and his business, Jeff's Painting and Pressure Washing, LLC, police said.

In body camera footage released by police, Moynihan can be heard asking why the police have a warrant for his arrest.

"Grand theft of what?" Moynihan asks in the video.

It is unclear if Moynihan has hired an attorney. The Bradenton Police Department did not immediately return a request for comment.

Musk has become the face of many scams worldwide over the past few years. In May, authorities in Hong Kong warned that crypto scammers were using AI deepfake videos of Musk to promote fake trading websites.

One Australian man lost $50,000 after registering his details through an online crypto form he found through a deepfake interview with Musk on social media in June. Another woman in Korea gave $50,000 to a scammer who she fell in love with while they pretended to be Musk on Instagram.